Beginning Death
by lilyrosa143
Summary: After everything that's happened in his life, there's one thing that everyone seems to have forgotten. Ichigo is human. And when a human dies, where do they go?
1. CRASH!

**Okay, I'm just going to start writing. This is my first ever fanfiction, so please reveiw and tell me how it is. I don't own bleach. **

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"Crap."

Ichigo looked down at the bloody mess that was, at least at one point, his body. How had one truck done that to him? Was he dead? He knew he should have been more freaked out and worried about the whole thing, but honestly, he _had_ been through worse. How could he have been that weak? To die from getting hit by a car? Seriously? What would Rukia say?

A crowd was starting to gather and the driver was getting out. That kid was starting to cry. Ichigo could see he had a few scrapes and a red mark on his shoulder that looked like it could become a bruise, but nothing serious; it could have been worse. At least he didn't die in vain or whatever.

"Holy shit!" The driver yelled when he saw Ichigo's body spread out on the ground in front of him.

"Call for an ambulance!" someone else said. There were other murmurs from the crowd too; things like "Is he still alive?" and "Oh my God!" could be heard from several different places.

"So young too.." he heard a woman murmer

Ichigo rubbed his forhead. She was right; it may sound cliche, but he was too young to die! I mean, he barely even finished high school! After everything he had been through and survived, he _wasn't _going to die here_._

So what did he do now? He couldn't get back into his body in that state; he had already tried. _Maybe Orihime could..._no, she couldn't heal the dead. Dead. He was dead and yet somehow, he felt perfectly fine. Maybe it was because he was used to it: the weightlessness, the feeling of nothingness. It felt like beeing a ghost; He _was_ a ghost; just like the ones he grew up being able to see when no one else could, helpless to the world around him, unable to be seen or heard by anyone because he didn't have a body. He needed a body.

A gigai. He couln't return to his, so he would get a new one. He smiled alittle at the thought and set off to Urahara's.

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"_You_ need a gigai?" Kisuke held his fan to cover an obvious grin "Oh my!"

" Er, ya. And also one of those things that erases people's memories." Ichigo said as more of an afterthought, _can't go to school and stuff with everyone thinking I'm dead._ "You have a problem with that?"

It was obvious how humerous he found this; why wouldn't he? A fucking truck had killed the man who had invaded Soul Society, fought several captains, killed tons of arrancars, and beat a man who had been deemed 'invincible'. A truck. How comically human.

"No, no. Of course not. Of course, gigias take a few days to make so-"

"ICHIGO!" Before Urahara could finish, Ichigo had been thrown back by a punch to the stomach. "What the hell was that for?" Still grasping his stomach, Ichigo looked up to see the short, raven haired girl who had appeared out of practically no where.

" A truck? i've seen you keep talking when the only thing holding you together is your SPINE! I've seen you get up and keep fighting after a hole had been punched through your chest! And you get killed by a fucking truck? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Err.." Ichigo really didn't know what to say. He had never seen Rukia go off like that-and she kind of had a point as much as he hate to admit it.

"Shut up and lets go." she said with her hands on her hips.

"What? Where?"

Rukia gave him a wicked grin. "Where else? You're dead. I was ordered to take you to Soul Society."

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**So how was that? I don't usually let people read my writing so I don't know how good/bad it is so please review! I reeeaaallly want to know how it is. Any suggestions? THANKS! Oh, and thanks Namikaze Artemis for the editing!**


	2. Day 2

**Hello everyone! For those of you who don't know, Shinoreijutsuin is the name of the shinigami acadamy. Ichigo has to to go for two reasons; the first is that he really dosen't know anything really about being a shinigami, other than how to fight, the second reason is that everyone in soul society agreed that if they had to do it, he deserves to suffer through it too. :D**

**once again, I don't own Bleach. If I did, Momo would be dead (yes, I know, you all hate me now), Ichigo would keep his sexxy emo hair, and both Karin and tatsuki would have powers too. **

*******(-'_'-)*******

Ichigo awoke staring at a wooden ceiling. It took him a moment to remember where he was: Shinoreijutsuin, Soul Society. His room mates scurryed about getting ready for the early morning classes and he to, after a moment, gave a loud yawn and moved off the bed.

_'Not even dead a day and already waking up at the crack of freakng dawn!' _he thought as he changed into his uniform._ 'What the hell happened to Rest In Peace?'_

Why was he even here any? He knew how to be a shinigami; he'd already been one for two years! "_alright then, If so then tell me the name of the first spirit king."_ Rukia's voice echoed in his head from yesterday when he asked the same thing. "_No? Well then why don't you show me destructive art number 31." _By now he was dressed and ready to go, he just needed his zanpakto. _"Look at your sword! You can't even control your reiatsu enough to take it out of it's released state. How do you even carry that thing around all the time?" _Ichigo sighed. For that she gave him a small black ribbon to wear around his arm that controled his reiatsu and keeped his sword a normal size. It made him feel like Kenpachi with his eye patch.

He stepped into his first class late.

" Sorry, I got lost." He said to the woman who was obviously the teacher.

"That's fine, come in. your new arn't you?"

" ya"

"Name?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo." there was a moment of silence in which She just stared at him as if she was trying to decide whether he was joking or flat out lying. No one else spoke either.

After a long time she said "very well, go take a seat." And the lesson began.

*****(-'_'-)*****

Some how, he had expected Shinigami history to be more intresting. It wasn't; just like every other history class he had ever taken the teacher stood infront of the class reading from a textbook about old wars and people long dead, once in a while calling on someone to read or answer a question. Every class was two hours long.

His next class was Law and Government. It basicly taught about how the government was set up, how the gotei 13 was set up, and all the laws that shinigami have to follow. It was boring as fuck. Of couse, it was also an advanced 3d year class so that was to be expected.

They planned on having him graduate the academy in a year or two since he already had most of the basic skills-and then some skills that were far to advanced to teach at the acadamy. He was admited in the middle of the year at the level of a third year, since the first two years were mostly about comunicating with your zanpakto, basic combat, and soul burials. They also taught a bit about the different divisions and captains, which he already knew about.

After LGov. Ichigo had Kido, which was completly impossible. '_How the hell,'_he remembered thinking _'am I supposed to summon a fucking bult of lightning from my hands?' _

Next he had Advanced Swordsmanship and Zanjutsu, which was, by far, the easyest class of the day.

His last class of the day was Hakuda (hand-to-hand combat) which, although all his classes were farely advanced, was still rather easy.

After dinner and homework, Ichigo crashed into bed after a long day. It was rather suprising how normal it all seemed; it was like going to high school again, but without the random shreaks of his subsitute shinigami badge to go fight hollows or somthing. It was more tiring though and he had no trouble getting to sleep that night. And the next day he woke up and did it all again.

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**Wow. My chapters are kinda short arn't they? I didn't really like this one either. What do you think? I can't make changes unless you reveiw!**


	3. Grades

**Thank you to all who subscribed and/or added this story to their favorites! Alas, still no reveiws:' Well anyway, here's the third chapter of Beginning Death! *applause***

**Oh, and for the record, Satoshi and Arata are OCs, just in case you get confused and start googling them trying to remember who they were. I've done that before... Any way, I basically added them (though i kinda hate OCs in fan fics) because I thought Ichigo would probably make friends pretty easily in Shinigami school; Nothing gets you friends (and enemies) like beating the crap out of someone in swordsmanship class! :D**

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"Ichigo!" Arata ran after him, stumbling over his own feet on several occasions. Ichigo stopped walking to let him catch up. "Can I pleeeaaasse borrow your notes for S.S. History?"

Ichigo sighed rumaging through his bag. Arata was always like this: Either slacking off in class or losing his work. He always waited till the last minute (as in there was a test the next day) to ask for help.

"Here," A brown haired boy said handing him a little packet of papers." Your always like this, so this time I made a copy of my notes for you." He smiled.

"THANK YOU! " Arata said a bit to enthusiastically. "Satoshi, your a life saver!"

It had been alittle over six months since Ichigo had started classes at the Shinigami Acadamy. Six months of going to sleep at 10 and waking up at 7 with no interuption from hollow attacks. Six months of no midget sized shinigami in his closet, no insane candy store owners, no crazy visoreds, and no evil arrancars. Six months without a single struggle for life or death or final battle. Six months of peace.

The only thing he really need to worry about was his school work which, with no stuffed lion or raven haired midget to distract him, was pretty easy. In fact he had among the highest test scores in all but one of his classes.

" I know! How about to repay you I by you both dinner!" That was just like Arata; blowing his money as soon as he got it-not that anyone really minded.

"Sure!"

"Yeah, why not?"

They planned to walk to one of Satoshi's favorite restraunts, but had barely made it to the school entrance before he noticed someone, whom was fairly out of place.

"hmm? That's strange, what would a shinigami vice captain be doing here?" Satoshi commented when he noticed the white band on her arm. She must of heard him because at that moment she turned and began walking towards them. Quickly.

"Oh, that's- UMPF!" Ichigo was cut of by a sudden punch to the stomach. "What the hell Rukia?"

"BAKA!" The raven haired girl yelled as he tryed to recover from her sudden attack." Have you _SEEN _your Kido grade? Is the only way to teach you _anything_ to throw you into a hole for three days? "

"Err.." That kinda _was _how Urahara, Yoruichi, _and _the visored trained him...

"Rukia?" Satoshi asked, sounding a little shocked. "As in Kuchiki Rukia? Vice-captain of the thirteenth division?"

"Yes.."

"What!" Arata's eyes widened. "Ichigo, how did you come to meet such a beautiful, high-ranked shinigami?" There was silence.

"Ichigo..." Rukia said after a time. "You didn't tell them?"

"I kinda thought they already knew..."

"Knew what?" Satoshi asked.

"It's kinda a long story." Rukia said to the two of them.

"Ya. I guess I could tell you at dinner though." Ichigo was still kinda in shock that they didn't know already. All his teachers certaintly did.

"No you can't Ichigo." Rukia said smiling an Unohana smile. " you have a tutoring session with me now, since your normal Kido teacher can't comply with your _special_ style of learning."

"Wait, what?"

"I think we can schedual a make-up exam in, say, three days?" And with that, Rukia dragged him off.

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**Well that was fun to write! What did you think? Please click that little blue button and review! **


	4. The Urahara Lesson Plan

**I just wanna say thanks to Generalmayhem02 and xJ11Cx for reviewing and to all of you who subscribed or added this story to your favorites. I love you all! so, without further adieu, here's chapter 4 of Beginning Death!**

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Arata watched the door as the last few people filed into class.

"Have you seen Ichigo yet this morning?" He asked Satoshi, who was sitting next to him. He shook his head.

"I didn't hear him get in last night either, and our rooms are right next to each other."

Arata smirked. "He must still be with that girl from yesterday..." Of course he was joking; Ichigo wasn't even close to bold enough to score with a girl like that, plus she was waaay out of his league.

Meanwhile, in an underground training room across Seireitei

Ichigo lay pinned to the sandy ground under Rukia's small form. Her soft little hands held his wrists firmly to the ground as her raven black hair cascaded down to cover their two faces. They were close enough that he could smell her faint, feminine sent of honeycomb and rain.

"Pathetic." She said, getting off of him. "You can't even do a simple binding spell to keep me from throwing you to the ground!"

Ichigo sat up. "When did you you get so strong?" he asked rubbing his wrists.

"When did you get so weak?" He walked right into that one. He wasn't sure what time it was or long he'd been there, but felt like forever being stuck with this abnormaly strong midget.

"Okay, let me explain this to you again," She said pulling out a sketch pad and began drawing a picture of a bunny with a body like the chalk outline of a corpse. " your body is filled with reiatsu," she began, lightly coloring in the outline with a pink crayon. " and to do kido, you simply have to draw all of that reiatsu into your hands" she then drew long red arrows inside the body pointing to the arms. " The different incantations are to help you focus on the type of Kido you want to use." She then drew little stars and flowers inside the bunny's head and matching ones coming from the stumps at the end of it's arms.

"Your drawings suck." She hit him with the sketch pad.

"you don't get it do you?" she sighed.

"Not really."

"Well then I guess I really have no other choice." She said getting up. " Dance, Sode no Shirayuki."

Ichigo was getting conserned; she had already taken away Zangetsu, saying that there would be no need for the use of swords.

" Tsugi No Mai, Hakuren." And Ichigo's leg's were frozen in place. She walked over to him and tied a string tightly around his left shoulder. "You know, for the record, this was Urahara's idea, not mine."

He was getting scared now. What would Urahara do to get him to learn Kido? Probably something along the lines of binding him so he can't move and trying to kill him, forcing him to use kido to stop him, or get sliced in half. Crap.

"Rukia, What the hell are you trying to-!"

"Don't worry," She said after walking a few yards away." If you don't manage to stop me, I'm sure the 4th division would be able to heal your arm.." And She ran towards him with her sword raised.

"Rukia!" Shit. She was really going to do it; she was really going to try to cut off his arm! If he wanted to stop her he had use kido, how do you do that again? _Consentrate all you power into your hands, focus on what you want to do with it. _

She was only a few feet away now. he tryed to concentate, let his hands grow hot. _I want to stop her._ He thought.

Suddenly, Rukia was forced backwards by what looked like a shield. She skidded when she hit the ground and the ice around Ichigo's feet melted simultaneously. He ran forward. "Rukia!"

When he got to her she was sitting up, rubbing her shoulder. "Bakudo number 39, Enkosen. Good."

2 days later, Ichigo passed his make up exam with a perfect score, without having to even say the names of the spells._  
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**Tadah! So I fell asleep writing this chapter and don't remember writing most of it, so tell me what you think of my sleep writing by clicking tht little blue button and reviewing!**


	5. Another day in shinigami school

**Hello everyone! To everyone who subscribed, added this story to your favorites, reviewed, or added me to your favorite authors, thank you so much! I love you all! **

*****(-'_'-)*****

After his make up exam in Kido, Ichigo's life and returned to normality, or at least, as normal as one's life could be when they were training to be a god of death.

A week later, he sat in Law and Goverment, next to Arata and Satoshi, half listening to a lecture on material that he already knew perfectly well, and doodling pictures of building that all seemed to look better sidways.

"Today we will be looking at interaction between humans an shinigami." Tanaguchi Sensei said loud enough for everyone to hear, but not so load she yelled- a teacher voice. " Of course most humans can't see shinigami, though there are some exeptions, "

Ichigo smiled a bit at that. Inoue, Chad, Ishida, Tatsuki, Keigo, and Karin; they were the exeptions. He hadn't actually heard from any of them in a few months. _I wonder how they're doing..._

"However, when a human is attacked or caught in the cross fair they can still see the damage being done around them." She continued. " Does anyone know the rule of thumb for instances like these? Mori-san?"

" You would use a Memory Chikan wouldn't you?" A kid in the center of the room said.

"That's correct, you see, the way a memory Chikan works is-" Taniguchi Sensei contiued her lecture and Ichigo continued doodling. He knew this- It replaced their memory with a random one. He remembered when Rukia used it his family, and then later on Inoue after defeating her brother-turned-hollow. It apparently didn't always work. And sometimes when it _did_ work it came up with stupid, outlandish things like sumo wrestlers and bazookas...

" Now, once in a while, a shinigami will do something stupid and for what ever reason, give their powers to a human. Does anyone know what the consequince for this is?" Ichigo smirked, but didn't answer; his answer would probably be to snarky for the teacher's liking. Now that he thought about it, he still hadn't told his friends here about it...

"The consequince is that he comes to soul society and beats the crap out of all our captains." Someone said. The class laughed, including Ichigo. More though from embarrassment than amusment. Besides he only fought a few captains, a 3d seat, and Renji, who didn't count for much.

Tanaguchi Sensei chuckled to, mostly from watching Kurosaki's Oh-my-gawd-get-me-out-of-here laugh. "Ah, you mean the ryoka incident?" she said smiling. " I suppose that counts.

" As you all know, Kuchiki Rukia gave her powers to a human a few years ago, and was later arrested for it by the captain and vice-captain of the 6th division. Who can tell me the captain's name?" _Shit._ Ichigo sat in his seat , trying his best to look unnoticable. Was she really going to do this? She knew it was him didn't she? Was she tring to make him feel awkward? He looked at her. There was a glint in het eye as she looked back at him saying yes, yes she was.

"Kuchiki?" Satoshi answered.

"That's right, her own _brother_!" Tanaguchi Sensei had a way of talking that made everything sound like an over dramatic soap opera. " The human tryed to defend her but lost _miserably _to the highly superior captain and vice-captain." Ichigo glared at her. She only smiled. " Several days later, after recovering, I am told he came to Soul Society with a few other humans with high reiatsu and curious powers. He then fought the 3d seat of the eleventh division and later, fought the captain. Anyone know what that captain is famous for?"

"Being a sadistic, blood-thirsty demon?" The class was rather into this discusion.

"Exactly! Now you may think this sounds like an extremly stupid, idiotic thing to do, but to him, it seemed like a good idea." Ichigo's eye twiched. " Amazingly, he won and, even more suprisingly, he survived. He was then healed by a seventh seat from the 4th division who supported his cause. He also had a rematch with the vice-captain of the sixth division, which he won, and the captain of sixth,which he couldn't finish because he was dragged away by an ex-captain who then taught him how to do bankai in, how many days?"

" three" someone said.

"two and a half" Ichigo answered. " They moved the execution date up, so it was two and a half." He should know.

Tanaguchi Sensei grinned. "That's right Kurosaki-san, in two and a half days the ryoka learned Bankai and used it to fight Kuchiki-taichou once more, and this time, won. He managed to save Kuchiki Rukia whom later became his lover and-"

"THATS A LIE!" Screamed a red faced Ichigo, jumping up from his seat. "I don't know what fucked up textbook your reading, but that is a complete lie!"

"Ichigo!" Satoshi said pulling him down. " Don't be rude to Sensei! I'm sorry, It's just that Ichigo is actually well aquainted with Kuchiki-san so-"

Tanaguchi Sensei laughed. "I'm sure he is.."

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***Evil grin* Okay, so that last part I put in more for my own entertainment then the progression of the story, but it was **_**really**_** fun to write! Please not that I really don't have much much control of Tanaguchi sensei and didn't realise she would say that, but I think it makes her a bit more awsome.**

**Don't worry, I don't plan of infesting this story with OCs or making any couples that arn't cannon. **

**Also, this was **_**going **_**to be the beginning of a different chapter, but ended up being longer than expected so I will probably release the next chapter in a day or two. **

**Don't forget to review and tell me what you think! any ideas for other chapters? fillers? Omakes? Just press the little blue button! Wow, this is my longest chapter yet!**


	6. The Longest title, but shortest chapter

**Reviews! Thank you so much to AnnaADDICTED, icemoonbankai, MissAleatory, Amyanddan, and xJ11Cx for reviewing the last chapter and to everyone who subscribed and/or added this to your favorites. **

*****(-'_'-)*****

It was official; Law and Gov. was now his least favorite class. Everyone continued talking about the Ryoka Insident even _after _class, which had been far to long for his liking. They had ended the day on "-and lost his powers as a shinigami to defeat the traitor" and he went of to Swordsmanship. The rest of the day his classmates debated on whether or not he was completely feuled by his uncontrolable Hero Complex.

_I don't have a _HERO COMPLEX. He thought as he slashed at his partner in Swordsmansip that afternoon (with a bokken, not Zangetsu). Amazingly, he noticed, Tanaguchi Sensei managed not to say his name once all class period (exept of course when she called on him) and no one asked. There were people though, that after his little outburst had come up to him and said joking things like "Hey, since Rukia-chan is _clearly_ not taken, can you get me her number?" and stupid shit like that. Some where dead serious.

He was so distracted by the whole thing that he messed up in Kido, _again_. He was finally able to do the spells after his 'tutoring session' with Rukia, but he kept forgetting which spell was which. He didn't actually have to think the incantations, he realized, which was good because they were to confusing and sounded stupid. And not that he cared what his hollow thought, but it was a little distracting to have two entities laughing at you inside your brain.

Today he managed to do Bakudo number 61, Rikujōkōrō when he was _supposed_ to do number 30, Shitotsu Sansen. It wasn't really his fault, they do look kinda similiar, and Kitoushi Sensei _was _impressed that he could do such a high level spell so he didn't get in any trouble or anything.

That night though, the stress of the whole Rukia thing must have gotten to him because he had the weirdest, scaryest dream he had ever had. He dreamed that they actually _had_ started dating like Tanaguchi Sensei had said and went to, for some stupid reason, go tell Byakuya.

His dream ended with " Scatter, Senbonzakura."

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**okay, so it's alittle (alot) short, and once again, was supposed to only be like the first paragraph or two of a **_**different **_**chapter, but I guess it makes a desent chapter on its own. I'll try to get the chapter I keep **_**trying **_**to write typed by tonight or something. Oh, and for the record I did **_**not **_**want to make Ichigo react like this to the whole Rukia thing, in fact i plan on having them end up together in the distant future. But now I'm not so sure..should I do it even if it gives him nightmares? **

**Okay, so if you haven't already guessed, I don't have alot of control of these characters, but I guess that's good because it tends to keep them in character. **

**Anyway, sorry for the rant. And remember to REVIEW!**


	7. Omake

**Two chapters in one day, actually, this may end as three! Okay, so once again, Im pushing the actual chapter back for this little omake. It will probably be my shortest chapter of the entire fic. Ready?**

*****(-'_'-)*****

Once again Ichigo sat in his dorm room staring at a text book. He had probably read the same paragraph three times, and, after finishing it a fourth time, he realized he hadn't taken in any of it. He read it again.

"Ichigo?" Satoshi asked, looking up from his own, matching textbook.

"hmm?" Crap. Where was he again? He started again.

"come 'ere and look at this." Satoshi said, signaling for Ichigo to move closer. " There was a captain with the same last name as you!"

Ichigo sighed getting up. Of course there was; Kurosaki isn't _that _uncommon a last name for there to have never, in all the history of soul society, have been a captain with it. But Satoshi probably would keep bugging him until he came over and looked.

"Maybe your distantly related!" Arata added.

Ichigo looked down at the picture in Satoshi's textbook. Kurosaki-taichou was a strongly built man with black hair and quite a bit of stubble. The picture showed him smiling as he spoke to a blond man who was also wearing a white captains hiori. The blond one's hair looked in-need of a hat. It was captioned Urahara Kitsuke and Kurosaki Isshin. Upon seeing this Ichigo made a face that could best be described as 0.o

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**The end! I know it's probably not my best, but it was still fun to write. anywho, next chapter is ****Of Sake and Capains.**** Yes, this is the chapter I have been trying to write but haven't. Wish me luck! **


	8. Of Sake and Captains Part 1

**10 reviews! thank you to everyone who reviewed, subscribed, and/or added this to your favorites. I obviously don't own bleach, beause if I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfics, would I? Anyway, here's the chapter I **_**wanted**_** to write but haven't.**

*****(-'_'-)*****

"K-kurosaki-san!" Called an unfamiliar from the hallway outside his room.

Ichigo looked up. Classes were over for the day and he was sitting at his desk half doing his homework and half pondering the ultimate question*. Ever notice that you always get your best ideas when you should be doing something else?

"Yeah?"

"T-there's a shinigami here to see you! It s-seems like it could could b-be importaint!" Yokuro, the class rep and dorm monitor stood in the doorway. Ichigo was worried for a minute until he heard a much more familiar voice behind Yokuro.

" Oh, is this his room?" A bubbly, girly voice asked before stepping into the room. "There you are Kurosaki!" And in a moment he was being sufficated by Matsumoto's abnormally large chest. The room went quite.

"Rmuphm!" Ichigo tryed to get out while being pinned to her cleavege.

"What's that?" She asked letting go slightly so he could talk.

"I said your sufficating me!" He said gasping for breath. "I kind of feel bad for Toshiro.."

The room was silent.

"Don't be mean!" Rangiku said putting her hands on her hips. "And to think I was going to invite you to go out with all us.."

The room was still silent as Ichigo sat back down at his desk. " ' Can't anyways, I have homework."

She looked at him pushing out her bottom lip and making her eyes wide. He didn't respond and kept reading. She crossed her wrists and clasped her hand so that her arms pushed up on her breasts. "Please?" she said in a small voice as she worked to make her eyes watery.

"How the hell can you say no to THAT Ichigo?" Arata shouted jumping up and running forwards to her. "You know, if you want someone to go, I'm free!"

"Really? that's great! But if Kurosaki doesn't go too, everyone will be disappointed." She said once again making a pouty face at Ichigo. "Come on! Hisagi and Ikkaku, and Renji, and Rukia, and Momo, and Shunsui-taichou, and even Hitsugaya-taichou agreed to come!"

Arata's eyes widened, apperently having relized that everyone listed was either a capain or vice-captain. " Hey, Ichigo, how do you know these people again?"

Matsumoto's eyes widened. "What! You didn't tell him yet?" she said, looking at Ichigo. He rubbed his forehead; he had forgetten to tell them again and clearly, even if he didn't go with Matsumoto, he would be stuck explaining his escapades to his friends all night. He wasn't going to get any homework done tonight was he?

" Oh, I see." she wispered with a smirk as she pulled him up from him from his chair. " Your to _modest _to want tell them! Thats understandable, so how about I spare you the trouble of explaining and let you come with me!"

"Wait, what?" He said as he was successfully dragged out of the room.

" Sorry Kurosaki's friend! But he's in a hurry and really can't explain right now! I hope can understand!" Rangiku yelled from down the hall.

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***Cookies for you if you get the refrence! **

**What the hell? How did this turn into **_**another **_**transition chapter? and whats more, it's exacly like the last two! I'm sorry for having failed you... please don't kill me. **

**Anyway, For those of you who noticed, Yes, Arata and Satoshi are very similar to Keigo and Mizuiro for two reasons. ****The first is that because both personalities are on opposite ends of the extreme, they complement Ichigo's personality and each other's. You will see relationships like this in alot of storys and because of it you will remember all of the characters' personalities better. The second reason is because where ever you go you tend to run into the same personalities and create similar relationships with them, so it makes sense that his friend would be similar. ****  
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**Soo, I'm gonna start writing the 2nd part now before you all come to my house with pitchforks and torches. : )**


	9. Of Sake and Captains Part 2

**Part 2! Thank you everyone, I don't own bleach, yada yada yada.**

**Special thanks to xJ11Cx for the help with this chapter!**

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**(-'_'-) _ Bunneh gives you a cookie. **

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*****(-'_'-)*****

This was something he was unaware of; there were bars in soul society. Around him people talked as he sat there feeling alittle out of place.

"Arn't you going to order anything?" Matsumoto asked.

" I'm underaged.." For a moment she looked at him like he was stupid or somthing before Rukia came over and once again explaned to him that his entire way of thinking was incorrect.

"Idiot. You. Are. Dead. Your 'body' is made out of spirit particals. What are you are you worried about? That your _liver _is going to fail? Tecnicaly you can't even get drunk; all this sillyness," she motioned to the people around her. "Is just psychosomatic."

Ichigo thought about this for a moment befor motioning for the bar tender to come over.

The moral of this story is that the mind is a powerful thing. Within hours Ichigo had consumed four bottles of sake, bought Rukia a drink, and taught all the shinigami in attendence the Makarana and they were doing it rather spiritedly as they explored the fact that it fits to the tempo of any song. Matsumoto told him Orihime's feelings for him, which he brushed off as a joke, and he had told her his Tanaguchi-inspired dream about Rukia. Renji, who was sitting near by, proceeded to challenged him to a fight. He also had agreed to fight Kenpachi before the night was through.

"So Ichigo," Ikkaku asked at some point. " After you graduate, do you know what division you want to join?"

He thought for a moment. "Definitely not 12th or 4th." he said. "Or 6th."

"Why?"

"I don't like the captains." He shrugged.

"So any where else?" Ikkaku asked.

"Ya, pretty much."There wern't alot of divisions he didn't like and for the most part they were all fairly similar.

"Hitsugaya-taichou would probably _love _to take you!" Matsumoto butted in. "Isn't that right taichou?"

"What? yeah, sure." Toshiro said from a little ways away, not really sure what he was agreeing to.

"Kenpachi-taichou would too." grinned Ikkaku. "You couldn't run away if he asked to spar." Ichigo shuddered.

"The thirteenth division would take you," Rukia said "And so would Nee-san!"

"Ha! No he wouldn't." Renji answered. " Kuchiki-taichou _hates_ Ichigo."

"Yeah, and the feelings mutual." Ichigo said, earning a punch from the captain's little sister.

" Some how I don't think Yama-jii will _let _Ichigo join any of those divisions." Shunsui said, joining the conversation.

"Why not?" several people asked.

_"_They all aready_ have _captains_."_

There was silents for a moment.

"What?" Ichigo asked, dumbfounded.

"Well, if you think about it, There are three ways to become a captain. One is to perform bankai in front of three capains including Yama-jii, which you've done. The second is to defeat a captain which, I believe you've done on three seprate occasions, if you include ex-captain Aizen. And the third is to get a recommendation from at least six captains and approval from three others, which I think is safe to say you've got." Shunsui explained. " So basicaly, there is absolutely no reason for you _not _to be a captain. I know I would at least recommend you, Ukitake probably would to, and you would to, wouldn't you Hitsugaya-taichou?"

Hitsugaya shrugged. "Probably."

" You see?"Ichigo sat aw-struck as the captain continued talking. Him? A captain? What the hell were these people thinking? In case they had forgotten, He only _learned _Bankai so he could break the law. And you have to defeat the captain infront of 200 members of their squad to their position. And for the third way to work, almost _all _of the existing captains had to _atleast _approve of it.

"That's crazy." He said, apparently out loud.

"Why? It's not like you _couldn't _do it, and besides, what else are you going to do? Anything lower than vice-captain and you can't go to the really _fun _battles." Ikkaku grinned.

Hisagi glared. " 'Do not seek beauty in battle.' " He quoted.

"That's not true, what about you and Yumichika? He participated in the winter war, and he's a _fifth _seat!" Ichigo argued, clearly missing 69 guy's annoyance in calling battle _fun._

"That's because we were short _three _captains."

"We are _still_ short _three _captains." He said.

"And thats EXACTLY why you should be one!" Rukia threw in. "I know you Ichigo. If you were a captain, you could very possibly have one of the best divisions in the Gotei 13."

He looked at her. It was hard to say no to her like that, after all, she _did _know him. She knew him better than anyone, sometimes even better than himself, and if she belived in him, maybe she was right. Maybe he _could _be a desent captain.

" There _are _three open positions. And I, atleast, would be happy to have you as my captain!" Hinamori, who Ichigo had forgotten was there, said. Great, so now he had already been recommended, passed the test, given a squad, _and _been given a vice-captain. It appeared that he really didn't have a choice..

Ichigo sighed in defeat. "I don't know, maybe."

*****(-'_'-)*****

Ichigo returned to his dorm late that night, exausted, only to be greeted by his two room mates, Arata and Satoshi, still awake and waiting for him.

"Were you waiting up for me?" He asked, kind of embarrassed.

"Do you have any idea what time it is mister?" Arata yelled.

"Err.."

"2:30 AM." Satoshi answered with him arms crossed. "I understand that girl was hot and all, but we have a test in LGov. in the morning."

"What! Her? Matsumoto? NO!"Ichigo yelled rather taken back by what his friend was suggesting. "It's not like that at all!"

"Then how the hell do you know her?" Arata asked.

Ichigo sighed. He knew he should tell them, but right now he just wanted to sleep. "Let's just say I don't have to study for that test on the Ryoka Insident in the morning."

"WHAT?" They both asked, rather loudly too.

"Good night." Ichigo climbed into bed and the moment his head hit the pillow, he was asleep.

_I wonder If I'm going to have a psycosomatic hangover in the morning?_

*****(-'_'-)*****

**It's done! thank you to everyone who wished me luck on this chapter! This was probably the hardest chapter to write, but I think it turned out okay. I actually acheived everything I wanted from it, and I think it may be my favorite chapter so far. What do you think? Press that little blue button and review!**


	10. When The Voices Call You Crazy

**So few emails lately! W-whats wrong? Did you all get bored? did you stop reading? Does my summery just suck? *sigh* I know, I'm no good at summeries. So how about a contest? Submit your summery for this story and I will use the best one and send the winner an early chapter in a PM. Sound good? K! so let's start the Chapter!**

**/\_/\ _**

**{='.'=} / / Kitteh says review**

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*****(-'_'-)*****

Ichigo woke up the next morning to learn that you could, in fact, psycosomaticly give yourself a hangover. Although he had never experianced one himself, he was pretty sure this was what it was like for two reasons. First, he could remember practically nothing from the night before, and second, he had a massive migrain.

_**You made your hollow sick. **_Zangetsu's voice echoed through his ears.

_I hate you king. _His hollow said, moaning.

When he got up, he relized that the halls were quiet. No one was talking, no one was running off to class. He looked at the clock. 08:46. Shit. He started running around the room getting dressed and ready. He noticed that after he started moving around, his headache went away, which was a good thing, but he was already 45 minutes late for class!

Three minutes later he was running through the halls of the dorm.

_Damit! _

_Why are you running? Your already late._

_**That's true, running won't make it much better.**_ clearly, neither had ever been late; it wasn't that he was worried about being that much later, it was just that if you were just _walking _to class you look like a complete, irresponceable, slacker.

_That's stupid._ His hollow commented.

_Would you just shut up? no one asked you for your opinion!_ Ichigo thought to it rather loudly.

_King is pissy._

_**Quite.**_

_Think it has something to do with last night?_

_**I'm not sure he remembers.**_

_The human mind is a powerful thing. _

_**...Says the imbodyment of strength and instinct that exists within his mind as a complete, and possibly equal, entity.**_

_Good King, I think you have Multipul Personality Disorder._

_Are you calling me crazy?_

_Bad sign when the voice in your head calls you crazy. Also, why is you brain sideways?_

_..._

_**I think he's ignoring us.**_

"Shut up!" Ichigo said, apperently outloud since someone turned around. "err..not you."

_King is talking people who arn't there!_

_**Schitzafrenic too, are we?**_

_Hey, if you think about it, He's seen things no one else does since he was little!_

_**True. **_

"Kurosaki-san?" His History teacher asked as he rushed into class almost an hour late. He mumbled a quick apology, And went to his seat.

"You okay Ichigo?" Satoshi asked. "You look kinda annoyed."

"hang over?" Arata asked.

"Zanpakto." Ichigo answered. They both looked confused to he elaberated. "It keeps talking to me inside my head."

_**It's more the hollow than me. **_Zangetsu commented.

_I'm not telling them that!_

_No, that would make you seem, what's the word?_

_**Crazy.**_

"I thought only upper-class shinigami could talk to there swords without meditating." Satoshi said in a way that made it clear that what he meant was ' What the hell?'

_Yer friend thinks your crazy to._

_No, he just finds it strange._

_'course._

*****(-'_'-)*****

**Yes, my chapters are short. Alot of you commented on it but, although I planned on changing it, I relized It's more true to the style of bleach to keep them like this. If you read them chapter by chapter, you know exactly what I'm talking about. 18 pages! but, They update about once a week, and the story is made for short chapters, so, I'm doing that in this story to!**

**Okay, fine, I'm just bad at writing long chapters.**

**Anyway, this was a fun chapter to write mostly because Hichigo is probably my favorite character and I've been playing with the idea that Ichigo is not a subsitute shinigami, but in fact, just crazy, ever since he (*SPOILER FOR FULLBRING ARC!*) ****desided that everyone's memories of some one were lies, he was the only sain one, and then, that everyone, including his dad, was trying to kill him. No silly! It wasn't his **_**dad **_**who stabbed him, it was Rukia, the un-dead, warrior, princess that goes around killing giant monsters for a living! YAY!**_  
><em>** But ya, Ichigo is coocoo-pants.**


	11. Lunch With Ryoka

**27 reviews! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but school started up again and I've been kind of busy with homework, actually I should be working right now but fanfiction is more fun!**

**Anyway, This is my ninth chapter if you don't include the second part of chapter 7 or the omake. YAY! Oh, and the test they are talking about is the one mentioned in the previous chapter about the Ryoka incident.**

**Thank you, Namikaze Artemis, for editing!**

*****(-'_'-)*****

The morning passed peacefully: even their test in Law and Government wasn't as awkward as he'd expected. He no longer had his psycosomatic headache, and his friends had forgiven him for running out on them.

Everything was fine, until lunch.

"I completely failed that test!"Arata said as they ate lunch in the courtyard. The garden around them was very traditional in design. Next to the pagoda in which they sat was a small koi pond, and around that were several cherry trees and different rock structures. It was beautiful, and in that, there was something about it that made it seem as though one shouldn't speak. They did anyway.

"You're right, I probably did too; I hardly had any time to study," Satoshi said, answering Arata's comment.

"What was she thinking? After only giving us two days to study, I doubt anyone passed," Arata said, a bit louder than needed. "How do you think you did, Ichigo?"

Perfectly fine. He wouldn't be suprised if he got a perfect score, after all, most of the questions were about him, other than the occasional one about Orihime or Chad.

"I think I did alright."

"What? How? You studied even _less _than we did!"

Ichigo rubbed his forehead. He should tell them now. He really should. It wasn't like it was a secret or anything, but still, it was going to be kind of awkward to explain that he was the ryoka that Tanaguchi-sensei had been talking about for the past few days. What was he supposed to say? How would they react?

Eventually he decided to say it as simply as possible, exactly what he had been thinking.

"Well, most of it was about me."

He looked up at his completely shocked friends. They were wide eyed and and frozen: it was pretty much the exact reaction he had expected.

"I'm sorry?" Satoshi asked, as if he hadn't heard. Ichigo sighed.

"You know, subsitute shinigami, ryoka, human." he listed off everything he had been refered to as by Tanaguchi. "That was me."

A moment passed before either of them opened their mouths, then, not much to his suprise, Arata started laughing.

_Probaby thought I was joking._

"I actually thought you were serious for a second!" he laughed.

_Yup. _Ichigo was no genius, but he was pretty good at predicting peoples reactions: a pretty good skill to have in a fight, if you asked him.

"Although it would explain his familiarity with all the captains," Satoshi added, clearly not having had dimissed the idea yet.

"I was serious, Arata, but I really don't care if you believe me or not."

And he didn't.

Satoshi shook his head."But you see, there are three things wrong with your statement," he said. "First and foremost, the ryoka lost his powers fighting ex-captain Aizen, second, his Zanpakuto never came out of it's released form, and third, you're a third year and the winter war only happened a couple years ago."

Ichigo sighed. "I got my powers back about a year or so after the fight with Aizen." he said, as he untied the ribbon on his forearm. Instantly, his sword returned to it's cleaver- like shape. He held both in front of him for them to see.

"Rukia gave me the ribbon to bring my reiatsu down to a manageable level." Then he replaced his Zanpakuto and tied the ribbon back on. " And as for the last reason, I died about six months ago, right before starting classes with you. They had me skip the first two years."

"How did you get your powers back?" Arata asked, finally appearing to take him seriously.

Ichigo thought back on the event. Fullbringers, the first substitute shinigami, how (and why) all the captains put some of their reiatsu into one sword just to get his back; over all, it sounded like a hard story to tell.

"It's a long story," he finally said.

"Okay, but I still don't see how-" Arata was cut off by a small, pink haired young girl shunpo-ing between them. On her arm she wore the vice-captain badge for the eleventh division.

*****(-'_'-)*****

**You know, sometimes I think that if Yachiru ever fought she'd be scarier than her captain. Anyway, I'll update soon, I promise. **


	12. The Little Pink Child

**Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? So, in the next chapter you will see a bit of Ichiruki (skwee!) as well as a fight with Ken-chan, and more of Hichigo dissecting Ichigo's psycology. Arn't the voices in**** y****our head always the best shrinks? I know mine are. **

**Oh, and for those of you who do't remember what happened in the last chapter, Ichigo's conversation with his friends was interupted by yet **_**another **_**scary vice-captain. This one with pink hair and those little blushy things under her eyes that only chibis get.**

**Once again, thanks Namikaze Artemis for editing!**

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The little girl stood there, in her black shihakusho with a sword at her side and a vice-captain's badge on her arm, looking like she was playing dress up. She stood glaring at Ichigo with her hands on her hips and a frown across her face and eventually, she said "Ichi, you made Ken-chan sad."

Everyone's eyes grew wider.

"Ken-chan?" Arata asked in a small voice.

"I think she might be referring to Kenpachi Zaraki-taichou, the captain of eleventh division..." Satoshi wispered to him as if to avoid breaking the heavy atmosphere that had suddently been created.

Ichigo was staring at her, still trying to cope with what Yachiru just said; Because when _she _says 'Ken-chan is sad', it actually _means '_Kenpachi is angry' which basically translates to 'the most sadistic, blood-thirsty captain in all of the the 13 squads wants to kill you' which ends up meaning 'you are going to die.'

Now, Ichigo wasn't exactly a coward, but he wasn't suicidal either. So he did what any reasonable man would do; he turned and ran.

Or at least he tried to.

But as soon as he made a move to leave, Yachiru jumped on him.

"You weren't trying to _escape, _were you?" She asked darkly as she held him against the floor of the pagoda. Her face resembled that of a demon, an expression probably taught to her be her captain.

"Er, no?" he responded meekly. There was somthing about the pink haired little girl that was ten times scarier than Kenpachi. Come to think of it, he had never seen her fight, but surely Kenpachi wouldn't let a girl who was like a daughter to him be weak. Especialy not if she was his vice-captain. Her expression darkened even more.

"Liar, " she said. Then, oddly enough, her expression changed from pissed-off-demon to small-child-on-the-verge-of-tears. " You liar! You promised! You promised you would fight him, so Ken-chan got all exited, but, but,-" Tears exploded from her eyes. "YOU LIED!"

_I'm sorry, WHAT? _Ichigo thought as his two friends stared at him with their jaws dangerously close to the ground.

"Why would I EVER agree to fight him again?" Ichigo asked.

"_AGAIN?_ Holy shit, you _were _telling the truth!" Arata said, apperently just realizing it.

"Baldy said you would." Yachiru got off of him and sat at his side as he sat up. "He said you lost a bet."

He stared at her.

"But he said you might not remember because you would be being sicko-sem-addict*, or something."

"So does this mean that one of my best friends is famous? That's so cool!" Arata had apparently continued talking, but no one was listening.

"It means you think you should feel a certain way, so your brain convinces you that you do." Then Yachiru laughed. "You must be a real idiot to do somthing like that!"

Ichigo stared at her and Arata continued his rant. Then the little girl snaped her fingers together as if she remembered something important.

"Oh! And Ken-chan already excused you from all your afternoon classes," she said with a smile. " And he says that If you don't come with me to fight him right now, he'll come here to get you!" He wasn't sure how, but the way Yachiru talked always sounded so frighteningly happy, like she was talking about sunshine and rainbows when she was really talking about one's eventual death.

"Shit," he said, admiting defeat.

And, by the way she put it, this was inevitable. One way or another, he was going to have to fight Kenpachi. On the up side though, he had survived last time, and he hadn't even had a Bankai. Yeah, maybe if he used his bankai he might even, possibly, barely win...maybe. Okay, probably not, especialy if Kenpachi actually got serious, but he would still probably survive.

"You're going to fight Kenpachi-taichou?" Arata asked, wide-eyed.

"Can we watch?" That was Arata.

"I don't really have a choice do I?" Ichigo said to Satoshi as he pushed himself off the ground. Then he turned to Arata. "And no, you can't watch."

"Why not?" He whinned. " Are you afraid of letting us see you get beat up?"

Satoshi chuckled. "I'd like to see that too." He was forever as calm as he would be talking about schoolwork or somthing. He reminded Ichigo of someone, but he wasn't quite sure who...

He shook his bright orange head. "No, not a lot of people can handle Kenpachi's reiatsu, let alone both of ours put together, especialy if I use Bankai." He remembered the two people he was with when he ran into Kenpachi for the first time in Soul Society. How frightening his mere aura was to them, how weak they became just from his presence. Then how Ichigo and his powers were matched in their fight.

But Arata, clearly picking up only the last part of his sentince said; " You're gonna go Bankai? I wanna see! I wanna see!" Like some kid at an amusment park.

"I'll use it if I have to." Ichigo said. He acted cool but inside he was going:

_Shit, I'm gonna die. He's crazy, I only barely survived last time._ _And that was when I _had _to win, not because I _could_!_ _That bloodthirsty psychopath! Shit, I'm gonna die!_

Arata did a little fangirl squeal. "Do you think he'll use his too?"

The air tensed.

"He doesn't have one," Satoshi finally stated.

"He doesn't _need _one Baka!" Yachiru said in her normal, happy tone. "Ken-chan is stronger than anyone! That's why he wears the eye patch and bells! In fact, if it was some one like you, he could probably kill you without using his sword at all!" She smiled. " You should come along and see how strong he is!"

They grinned.

" Yachiru..."

"Don't worry Ichi-chan! I'll make sure they don't get in the way of the fight." She grabbed the two by the hands and dragged them out of the pagoda. " Come on Ichi-chan! Ken-chan doesn't like to be kept waiting!"

Ichigo groaned and followed after her. What the hell was going on?

*****(-'_'-)*****

*** If you can't recognize it, this is Yachiru's attempt at saying 'psycosomatic'**

***sigh* My chapters are sooo boring! It seems like they are ALL transitions! Oh well, I'll try to stop doing this in the future... Any way, thank you all for the support, happy January, and please continue reading!**


	13. You Can't Lie to Your Soul

**This chapter is dedicated xJ11Cx, who gave me the idea for this fight, AnnaADDICTED, just for being her wonderful self! And, of course, my lovely editor, Namikaze Artemis! Soul King knows where this story would be without them.**

**Oh and for the record,**

_This is Ichigo_

_This is his hollow_

_**And this is Zangetsu**_

**IMPORTAINT: READ OR BE CONFUSED**

**EDIT: Since I got a lot of complaints about the out come of the fight, I desided to come back and write a second version. V1 is the original, which ends in a tie. V2 is the new one, in which ichigo wins. **

*****(-'_'-)****

Kenpachi was waiting for them in field about two miles west of the school. You could feel him, however, before you could see him.

"...You should really go back." Ichigo said to his two friends, breaking a long silence. They entered the range where you could start to feel Kenpachi's reiatsu.

He thought back on his first fight with Kenpachi, and his terrifying reiatsu that left one of his companions drooling on the ground. Of course both Arata and satoshi were in the advanced class, one, at the acadamy so there was a chance that they may have higher reiatsu than Hanataro.

But, it still scared him to think of the effect it might have on them. Satoshi was already looking kind of feverish...

"Don't worry Ichi!" Yachiru chirped. "I'll keep them far enough away so they don't get in the way!"

Ichigo could see Kenpachi now over the tall grass. He looked pretty much the same as he had three years ago, except that his hair seemed a bit looser and his eye patch had changed.

Three years. That was all the time that had passed since he had first fought Kenpachi, since he had first gone to Soul Society, since he first met Rukia.

Now that he thought about it, the fact that he ever even met her was (mostly) chance. If he hadn't, if the hollow she was chasing had attacked someone else's house, where would he be now? If he hadn't met her, she never would have lost her powers, he never would have gone to Soul Society to save her, never would have met Kenpachi, and never have gone to the Shinigami Acadamy when he died.

So basically, this was all her fault.

They were about ten yards away from him now.

"You should probably stay here so you don't pass out!" Yachiru said cheerfully to Arata and Satoshi. "Keeen-chaan! I brought him!"

Then she bounced over to her captain. Ichigo followed after her.

"Who the hell are they?" Kenpachi asked, pointing over to the two, rather pale looking students.

"Those are Ichi's friends! They said they wanted to see the fight, so I said they could come!" Yachiru chirped, looking up to him like a puppy to its owner.

*********START OF V1*********

"Whatever, as long as they don't get in the way." he grinned, turning to face Ichigo. "So, are you ready?"

He sighed and took off his black ribbon for the second time that day. His sword burst into it's normal state.

"Not really..." Ichigo muttered.

He held his sword out in front of him. Kenpachi grinned as he drew his sword as well.

"I won't go easy on you!" Kenpachi yelled.

"I know." There was misery in his words. He remembered their first fight: how for about half of it, he couldn't even cut him and when he tried, his own hand was injured instead. He remembered how the reiatsu of his opponent was so strong it had caused him to hallucinate and how he could touch Zangetsu's edge with his bare hands. Why was he doing this again? Because he lost a bet? How drunk was he!

"Hey, Yachiru said I lost a bet to Ikkaku... What exactly was it?" Ichigo asked.

He heard his hollow snicker.

"I don't know, I didn't ask." Kenpachi shrugged. "All I know is that you agreed to fight me when you lost." He smiled evilly. "And I assume that since you aren't attacking that I can go first?"

Without waiting for an answer, he came flying at a completely unprepared Ichigo.

"Hey look!" Arata exclaimed. "They're starting!" Even from so far away, they could hear the swords clash. The three of them watched as Ichigo and Kenpachi continued to attack and parry each other. As of yet, neither was injured.

"That's amazing!" Satoshi exclaimed, watching his friend shunpo behind the captain to avoid an attack. "They're so evenly matched!" Ichigo immediately swung his sword down towards Kenpachi's shoulder. Unfortunately, it was blocked.

"How funny," Yachiru said, looking slightly bored. "They're both still holding back a lot."

It was clear by their expresions that they were somewhere between shocked and highly amused.

"Hmm, your fighting style and reiatsu control have improved, but there's something missing in your mindset." Kenpachi stated as he blocked another attack. "Come on! You'll never even touch me if you don't want to kill me. This is boring."

He swung his sword at Ichigo, but Ichigo jumped back just in time.

"If I kill you, that means that there would be four open captain positions instead of just three." Ichigo pointed out.

He laughed. "If you manage to do that, you can have my position. I'm sure my vice-captain would be fine with it. Ain't that right, Yachiru!"

She smiled. "Mmhm!"

"Eh? What did he say? I couldn't hear him." Arata asked her.

"He said that if Ichi kills him, he can have his spot as captain!" Yachiru chirped.

They stared at her, wide-eyed.

"In the meantime, quit acting like such a fucking pansy. Fight me like you normally fight your enemies, like you fought me when you were trying to rescue your little girlfriend, like-" He was cut off by a sting of pain across his chest. He was bleeding. A lot. The captain grinned.

"SHE'S NOT MY FUCKING GIRLFRIEND, DAMMIT!" Ichigo yelled so loud even Arata and Satoshi could hear. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH YOU PEOPLE? JUST BECAUSE I WENT TO SAVE HER, DOESN'T MEAN I LOVE HER! I ONLY DID IT BECAUSE IT WAS MY FAULT IN THE FIRST PLACE, AND I'M NOT SOME BASTARD WHO CAN SIT BACK AND LET PEOPLE DIE BECAUSE OF ME!"

His hollow's laughter was ringing in his ears.

_What the hell's so funny?_

_Oh, nothing, It's just that you really have convinced yourself of that haven't you?_

_**Such denial...**_

_Not you too.._

_**Are you saying that you don't even believe the entities within your soul?**_

_Yeah, you know we _live _here right? We know every thought that runs through your mind._

_**Yes, you can lie to the world, and you can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to us.**_

_Don't worry King, it's only natural, after all, you were stuck with her for a year._

_**Stockholm syndrome...**_

_Please, who would fall in love with such a deseitful, melodramatic, flat-chested, rabbit-obsessed, midget? You would have to be-_

_**Crazy? I think we've already come to that conclusion, Ichigo.**_

As he spoke to the beings in his inner world the battle continued. And with his mind only half focused on the fight, he was more reacting to Kenpachi than actually fighting.

"If you aren't going to fight me seriously, I'll have to make you." Kenpachi said, taking off his eyepatch. The force of his released reiatsu snapped Ichigo back into the real world.

"Ah, shit." Ichigo muttered. "**Bankai**.''

Satoshi's knees gave in. The pressure was too much.

"Are you okay?" Arata pulled his arm over his shoulder so he could help him walk. "Come on, let's get back a little bit."

"You're leaving already?" Yachiru asked like a whiny child.

"No, we're just gonna sit over there," he said pointing a few yards away. "Satoshi's not strong enough to handle the reiatsu here.''

"Bor-ing." Yachiru complained.

"Getsuga Tensho." A black cero-like blast erupted from Ichigo's sword. However, Kenpachi blocked it, like he had a real cero, with his pure epicness.

Ichigo, having known he would do this, used it as a distraction to shunpo behind him and make a deep gash across his back. The captain whipped around and made a stab for Ichigo's chest grinning wildly. Ichigo managed to shunpo out of the way fast enough to only receive a deep slice in his left shoulder.

Of course none of these injuries hurt because, after all, they were shounen characters. And both of them would survive this battle, not because it was physically possible, but because they were just too awesome to die permanently.

Ichigo and Kenpachi continued on fighting for a while longer. However, eventually they reached an impasse. They were both quite injured, and so they both ended up passing out on the ground.

Satoshi and Arata were thoroughly impressed/terrified and Yachiru was extremely happy because of how much fun Ken-chan had.

*********START OF V2*********

"Whatever, as long as they don't get in the way." he grinned, turning to face Ichigo. "So, are you ready?"

he sighed. "Not really..." Ichigo began to undo the black ribbon rapped around his arm, releasing is zanpakuto into shikai state.

Kenpachi laughed. " That's it? What happened to all that confidence from our first fight*****? Quit acting like such a fucking pansy and fight me seriously! Like you did when you were trying to save your little girlfr-"

"SHE'S NOT MY FUCKING GIRLFRIEND, DAMMIT!" Ichigo yelled so loud even Arata and Satoshi could hear. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH YOU PEOPLE? JUST BECAUSE I WENT TO SAVE HER, DOESN'T MEAN I LOVE HER! I ONLY DID IT BECAUSE IT WAS MY FAULT IN THE FIRST PLACE, AND I'M NOT SOME BASTARD WHO CAN SIT BACK AND LET PEOPLE DIE BECAUSE OF ME!"

His hollow's laughter was ringing in his ears.

_What the hell's so funny?_

_Oh, nothing, It's just that you really have convinced yourself of that haven't you?_

_**Such denial...**_

_Not you too.._

_**Are you saying that you don't even believe the entities within your soul?**_

_Yeah, you know we _live _here right? We know every thought that runs through your mind._

_**Yes, you can lie to the world, and you can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to us.**_

_Don't worry King, it's only natural, after all, you were stuck with her for a year._

_**Stockholm syndrome...**_

_Please, who would fall in love with such a deseitful, melodramatic, flat-chested, rabbit-obsessed, midget? You would have to be-_

_**Crazy? I think we've already come to that conclusion, Ichigo. **_

"JUST SHUT UP!"

Kenpachi grinned drawing his sword. "If you want me to shut up," in an instant, he was behind him. "maybe you should draw your sword."

Ichigo blocked his attack a split-second later, before jumping back.

His friends watched equally eager and terrified for their friend. They had heard about Zaraki Kenpachi, how he had killed his previous captain for his position, his name, made the title given to the strongest man in Soul Society and the harsh district he had grown up in, was enough that stricked fear into any half intelligent man. They had heard that he was a demon, immortal, undefeatable. The only one to ever come close to winning against him was the equally fabled Kurosaki Ichigo, who, they had recently learned, was their best friend.

Zaraki's grin grew wider; he was stronger, _much _stronger, than the first time they had met. He attacked again and again, each time faster and more powerfuly. Ichigo continued to block and parry.

"This is getting boring." He said, reaching his hand up to his right eye. Ichigo's eyes widened, shifting rapidly from his opponent to his two dark haired friends, siting in their acadamy uniforms next to the small pink haired girl.

"Shit."

He disappeared for a moment, repearing directly in front of Kenpachi, slashing at him before he could remove his eyepatch. "I can't let you do that." he wispered when their swords met.

The captain frowned. "You scared?" Ichigo said nothing, but let his eyes fall back to the two, slightly queazy looking teenagers a few yards away. The smile returned as Kenpachi lashed out, forcing him to retreat a few feet.

"I see." Zaraki said, glancing at his sword. Unless you knew better, it always looked pretty dinged up and dull, so you couldn't tell, but he could see a fresh new gash running shallowly into the blade. _Damn. He really has gotten stronger. _"too bad I'm not a charitable person."

He pulled the black limiter away from his eye.

Ichigo stared at him for a moment, contemplating what he should do. He could see Satoshi looking faint. This had to end quickly. He didn't have a choice now.

"Satoshi, Arata!" He called over to them, raising his hand to the side of his mouth to amplify his voice. "Get back for a second, okay?"

Yachiru gave a small, childish giggle as the two nodded before reteating.

When they were at a safe distance, he returned his attention back to his opponent, who had been waiting for him with his signature grin spread across his face.

"**Bankai**."

Four seconds later, kenpachi was on the ground face first, covered in blood, and Ichigo had replaced his limiter. The onlookers eyes widened as they relized what had just happened. He had won... overwemingly. Kurosaki Ichigo had defeated the strongest person in Soul Society seemingly effortlessly. Wait, does that make him the new Kenpachi?

He looked up at them.

"You guys all right?" He called. His friends nodded. Yachiru had already gone to collect her captain.

"That's good." He said. "Well then, let's head back."

*****(-'_'-)*****

**Okay, I'll admit that towards the end (edit: of V1) I kind of went into 'I-don't-give-a-shit' mode, but I mean, seriously? Have you seen some of the injuries people in this manga get? At one point, the only thing connecting Ichigo's top and bottom was his SPINE, and he kept talking. I mean, I get the whole adreniline-rush thing, but still.**

**Anyway, Happy Year of the Dragon! And please remember to press that lovely blue button for good luck this year! **

**EDIT/AN FOR V2: So a bit more bad ass in this version. My writing really sucked, didn't it? Oh well, may go back to edit at some point...just not right now.**

***Yes, I am aware that ichi spends a lot of his first fight with Kenpachi running away, but ken-chan doesn't really have that good of a memory...**


	14. Welcome Back Ryoka!

** This chapter was inspired by TmAnR as well as crystaltyger, so thank you! **

**And yes, I know, The ending of the fight was pretty unrealistic seeing how Ichigo was like a billion times stronger this time. But please bear in mind that, first of all, Ichigo would be holding back as to not endanger his weak little friends. Second of all, he didn't really **_**want **_**to kill Kenpachi because it would be all the more reason to push a captaincy onto him (not that it matters..) and third of all, Ichigo doesn't win because he **_**can **_**win, he wins because he **_**has**_** to win. Ichigo didn't **_**have **_**to win that fight, but he wasn't weak enough to lose...So basically, this was his real skill and the first fight was him being stubborn.**

**I love you all! Especially my editor Namikaze Artemis, who keeps me from embarrassing myself, and Francy Pants, just 'cause your awesome.**

*****(-'_'-)*****

Ichigo returned to school two days later.

The fourth division had managed to heal the better part of his wounds (which they were forced to redo after Rukia reopened them as she beat him up for being stupid), Kenpachi was still sulking about how Ichigo refused to use his hollow mask near his friends, who also encouraged him to do so, and Hollow and Zangetsu were still being stupid. The scariest thing about the aftermath of the fight was that Ichigo relised that if he hadn't held back, he could have killed Kenpachi.

As he walked back onto the school grounds he saw people stare at him and whisper to their nearby friends. He knew what they were talking about.

_Great, _He thought. _One day and everyone in the school knows._

But he could just be being paranoid. But one way or another, he knew he was going to hate Tanaguchi's class today.

"Ichigo!" Arata yelled when he walked into first period. Everyone stopped talking and turned towards Ichigo. "Are you okay?"

Ichigo made his way to his seat in the center of the room next to Arata and Satoshi.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he said, rather annoyed at the murmurs he could hear around the room.

"Really? Him? He was the subsitute shinigami?" someone whispered.

"Did he really fight Kenpachi-taichou?"

"Look! You can see a bandage on his arm!" The guy who sat behind him pointed out. Ichigo pulled his sleeve down.

"Hey Ichigo?" Satoshi asked a bit later in a hushed tone. " You...You weren't holding back the other day, were you?"

He shrugged. There wasn't any reason to lie to him, seeing as he had apparently already noticed. "Did you expect me to kill him?"

Satoshi stared at him, wide eyed.

"Of course Ichigo!" Arata answered with the kind of whisper that wasn't really quiet at all. "If you did, then you would become a captain after you graduate!"

Ichigo tryed to ignore his friend's slightly homicidal thought.

_I like him._ His hollow grinned.

"I will anyways, Arata." Ichigo said, watching his teacher's mouth move. It was probably making noise. "Hinamori told me yesterday that Yamamoto agreed to make me her captain after I graduate."

It then became apparent that everyone in the room had been eavesdropping, as even their teacher stopped and stared at him. Then, the bell rang.

_Ah, shit. _He thought. This was going to suck.

*****(-'_'-)*****

**"Of course you should've killed him Ichi-chan! you would've gotten promoted!" And then Yachiru would kill you.**

**Ichigo is so annoyingly honest. I **_**wanted **_**to make him try to hide his past but **_**nooo, **_**Ichigo has to go and be all 'I have nothing to hide'. How to make him pay?**

**I know! Lets torture him with fangirls/boys! Who wants to be an OC extra? Review with a basic personality, and your character might show up in an up coming chapter!**


	15. Everyone loves Hichigo!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any character except Atata, Satoshi, Tanaguchi-Sensei, or random extra #1-3. Suki belongs to Suki Miko. Ami belongs to Metue. Also, why are so many OC submissions quiet stalkers? Oh well! Keep 'em coming! **

**I'm sorry I haven't been updating, I've just gotten a little bored because I don't like rewriting stuff. Well, hopefully after this I'll start updating more frequently again. Maybe. **

*****(-'_'-)*****

"Well, it looks like our favorite little hero complex has decided to show up today." Tanaguchi-sensei said as Ichigo and his friends entered the classroom. She was a rather pretty woman with long, curled, brow hair, green eyes and a slender hourglass figure. It was probably why her boyfriend, who she talked about quite a bit in class, put up with her personality.

"I do _not _have a hero complex!"

She laughed.

"Sure you do! You have a hero and a messianic complex, ex-captain Aizen had a god complex, Hitsugaya-taichou has a Napoleon complex, Kuchiki-taichou has a superiority complex, umm, oh! And that guy from eleven, Yumichika, has an Adonois complex!" She smiled as she counted them on her neon green fingers.

"What the hell? How would you even know that?" He asked, confused and slightly freaked out. When would a _teacher _at the Academy ever meet those captains?

She laughed again.

"Well, I also teach an elective psychology course, and my boyfriend tells me about the other shinigami he works closely with."

He was even more confused. Who the hell was she dating?

The bell rang and Tanaguchi-sensei shooed him off to his seat.

"Now today," Tanaguchi started, "I was _going _to talk a bit more about the winter war to torment Kurosaki,"

O_f course! _Ichigo thought.

"But that's no fun now that you all know!"

_I hate her._

"So instead, please raise your hand if you know what a 'Vizared' is."

Ichigo let his head fall loudly to the desk. About a fourth of the class raised their hands.

_I really hate her. _

"What is it Suki?" Tanaguchi asked. It always sounded weird for teachers to call her by her first name, but she insisted apon it.

"They're shinigami that were possesed by hollows, right?" the girl in the back said.

"Close. 'Vizared' is a term refering to, for the most part, a group of ex-shinigami that were infected with hollows during an experiment by the ex-captain Aizen and fled to the living world. There, they managed tamed their hollows and can use the power as their own for shorrt amounts of time.

"But the word 'vizared' is also applies to anyone with this type of 'inner hollow' including our very own Kurosaki Ichigo."

_I really, really hate her._

he could feel everyone's eyes on the back of his neck as he tryed to bury his face in the table. His hollow laughed.

_Damn. Wouldn't it be fun to take control right about now and scare the living shit out of all of them?_

Ichigo internaly glared.

"...That's so cool!" Someone exclaimed in the back. He wasn't the only one either; all around him, Ichigo could her hear murmured similar comments.

"Kurosaki-kun has hollow powers?" The dark haired girl by Arata asked, leaning over her desk.

He recognised her face from when Arata had pointed her out as 'his future wife'. What was her name? Annie? Anna? Ama? something like that.

"How long can you keep it?" She asked.

He raised his head to answer. He remembered how when he was training it he could only keep it for a few seconds, but then in hiis real fights, it stayed for several minutes.

_Hear that King? Your friends think I'm cool. Maybe you should introduce us.._

He ignored him.

"I don't really know, but I always seem to lose it a second too early..." He said, after considerating all his fights.

"Can I see?" She asked excitedly. Her brown eyes lit up as she said it, as if she was imaganing what the mask might look like.

He didn't even think for a moment before answering. "Of course not." He said. After all, to release such a power in a _school _wasn't just irresponsible and stupid, but also completely insane! No, _that _was reserved only for extremely dangerous battles.

"Come on, pleeaaase?" She asked, clasping her hands together as if she were praying.

_Yeah! Come on, pleeaaase?_

His eye twitched.

"No." he said firmly to both of them, but clearly this girl wasn't one to take a hint.

"But, but-" she started before being cut off by someone else.

"I heard that Inter Hollows have personalities, right? Does yours have one too?" A bright eyed girl, Suki, he knew, asked.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. This was starting to feel like an interview.

"Not really," He replied.

_So mean, King!_

"He's just an annoying little psychopath who doesn't know how to shut up."

_I'm hurt..._

As more people pounded him with questions, Ichigo glanced over at their teacher. Tanaguchi-sensei was sitting at her desk, looking rather smug as she watched the mess she created.

_That bitch..._

*****(-'_'-)*****

**Done! That took soooo long to post. Sorry. Please don't kill me. and, to those of you who submited OCs, Thanks! You'll be seeing them in the next chapter. **

**Oh, and Dark Inu Fan, Thank you soo much! Because of your OC, I can now do a certain IchiRuki scene I wouldn't otherwise get to do! **

**Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!**

**(the more reviews the worse I feel about not updating)**


	16. sorry, not real, but please read anyway

**Author's Note Chapter**

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but for all my devout readers/the readers that complained about the result of Ichigo's fight with Kenpachi, I wrote an altunate ending, just for you! I've told a few of my reviewers that the reason that he didn't win is because a) He can't go full power becaus Satoshi and Arata are there, and b) when he wins, he wins because he HAS too, not because he CAN. That's why you only see him fighting to protect someone, because otherwise he would die, seriously. So, in version 2 I made some changes that let him win. Cheak it out!**


	17. Attack of the Fangirls!

**I'm baack! So for those who have this on your alert and just got the email that said it updated, but you can't remember what's going on right now, Ichigo is in the Shinigami acadamy and everyone just found out who he is. No, this story is not abandoned, and you can probably expect anouther chapter fairly soon. Maybe. **

**Obviously I don't own bleach, since if I did it probably wouldn't be as good...**

*****(-'_'-)*****

By lunch it seemed that every student in the acadamy knew who he was and their normaly quiet pagoda was now crowded with obvious fans. Ichigo hadn't minded too much when the first one showed up, but as they began to multipy he began to calculate the best way to escape. Their questions had gone very quickly from reasonable and innocent to awkwardly personal, to downright desturbing.

"If Kuchiki-dono and that healer girl were both in trouble, and you could only save one, which would you go after?" Someone asked.

"What kind of question is that?" Obviously he would, err, um, He would save them both!

"If you focused on it really hard, could you matterialize something in your inner world? Like a bunny?" A brown haired boy asked, Kenji, Ichigo remembered him from swordsmanship class. He was a nice kid, but not the best fighter.

"I don't thi-"

_I want a bunny!_

_What? Why?_

_They're cute!_

_...Isn't that a bit out of character for a hollow?_

_**Of course not Ichigo, your hollow is the imbodyment of your instincts, and it is common human instinct to want to take care of and protect creatures weaker then themselves. Why do you think humans keep animals as pets? Why do you think you're hollow saved Inoue in your fight with that Arrancar? You certainly weren't in control.**_

_Are you saying that Inoue is the equivalent to a pet?_

_That's the basic idea. Now, about that bunny..._

"No, I couldn't." Ichigo said, finally answering the question.

_So mean, King!_

"Can your hollow hear us?" Ami asked, leaning past Arata, who she had been making light conversation with up until now. He had been overjoyed when she had shown up and come up with the fastest excuse he could to talk to her.

"Yes, and won't stop commenting.."

_bunny.._

Her dark colored eyes lit up. "what's he saying?"

_IwantabunnyIwantabunnyIwanta bunny_

"N-nothing importaint.."

_bunnybunnybunnybunnybunnybun ny_

_Who are you, Rukia?_

_bunny._

"..Just acting like a spoiled little child." The black haired girl smiled and returned to her conversation with Arata. Satoshi sat a few feet smiling contently at how all of this was turning out.

"Did you really acomplish bankai in less than three days?" Kiki asked. It was no wonder that she asked something like that. She was ranked second in his Zanjutsu class (next to him), and would never hesitate to challange him to a fight, even out of class.

"Um.."

"How did you get you're powers back?" a girl, Sakura, Ichigo believed her name was.

"Well..."

"Is your dad really Kurosaki Isshin?" Suki asked excitedly.

"Yes?"

"Are you in love with Kuchiki-dono?"

"WHAT?!" His hollow was laughing his annoying, little white head off. He could her Zangetsu chuckle aswell. "Why the hell does everyone think that?"

A white light flashed in his face, and a moment later he relized that it had been from a desposable camera, currantly in the hands of a dark haired girl he didn't recognize.

"hey, don't-"

"Who's more scary? Zaraki-taicho or Unohana-taicho?"

"umm, I think-"

"Hey" a blond girl said, attaching herself to his arm and resting her head on his shoulder. " I always did think you were cute."

Ichigo stared at her with a mix of shock, confusion, and general 'dafuq?'-ness. "Please let go of me." he tryed to say kindly, to no avail.

"Hey! No hogging, Agarashi-san!" Another girl yelled, rushing over to take his other side.

Agarashi glared at her. The other girl stuck her tongue out in responce.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the middle, an orange haired boy was trying to think of the best way to get them off. Both girls, being third years, had pretty good grips, and he couldn't try to shrug one off without the other latching on tighter. He looked at Satoshi pleadingly. He got a smile and a wave in return before his friend resumed his converation with some fourth year girl.

Arata was still preoccupied with his conversation with Ami, ("Really? You like food too? It's like we were made for each other!"/ "I can't believe you feel the same way!" / "We should go get some together some time!"/ "You just read my mind!") and Ichigo was on his own with two, (now three, as one draped herself over his shoulder) bickering girls.

He sighed.

"Well you've certainly been busy, Ichigo." Said a voice from infront of them.

"Renji!" He tried to pull forward, then relised the impossible state he was in.

"Abarai-fukutaichou!" The brunette girl to his left gasped, Letting go of his arm to bow respectfully to the new arrival. "I-it's such an honor to meet you, sir. What brings you here?"

Ichigo noticed Aragashi Yue fixing her hair with one hand as she smiled at the Red headed Pineapple. He rolled his eyes; at least he knew where her loyalties lied.

" Just came to get Ichigo for my captain," He said, running his hand thruogh his hair. "You don't mind if I borrow him do you, ladies?"

The two girls still wrapped around him both visibly blushed when they realised he had been talking to them.

"N-no, not at all.." The girl drapped over his shoulders muttered, letting him go.

Yue giggled girlishly as she released his arm. "Just make sure you bring him _right back_!"

Ichigo stood up and rushed forward as fast as he could, giving Renji a thankful smile.

"Don't mention it," he wispered, as they walk off toward the sixth division baracks. " 'Same thing happened to me after the SWA magazine published that thing about the winter war."

He shuddered.

A few seconds of silents pasted as they walked.

"So," Ichigo started, after a time. "What does Byakuya want from me?"

*****(-'_'-)*****

**Cliffy! So, I was thinking this could be the first in a series. By the end of this, Ichigo and Rukia will be married and the next one will introduce there children. Two twin girls named Hana and Mikan. **

**Mikan is the oldest, so she is the heir of the Kuchiki clan, unfortunatly, she has no interest in politics. She has the power of fire, and the curiosity of a five year old. Despite the fact that her sister spends a lot of time trying to keep her out of trouble, Hana's unique power to minipulate time and space tends to accidentally keep her entertained.**

**Hana has great potential and a lot of unrefined power, but the highly protective Ichigo clearly prefers that she doesn't become a shinigami. However, determined to leave her father's shadow, she convinces Urahara and Yoruichi to train her and slowly grows into one of the strongest fighters to date.**

**After that collection of stories I plan on writing one about Ichigo's reincarnation, which may or may not be a cross over with One Piece (seriously, has anyone noticed how similar Zoro is?), depending on feedback.**

**So what do you guys think? Do you want to see them? I dislike writing about OCs as main characters, but I think it might be okay, since they're more about the idea of the daughters of one of the strongest shinigami in history, rather than the characters themselves. **

**Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? **

**Oh, and don't worry, any OCs that haven't showed up will show up soon.**


	18. You Can't Lie to Your Soul Part 2

**I updated again in less than a month! YAY! Special thanks to Phantom Claire, who gave me my first review in a language other than English, which is pretty much the reason you're all getting this so soon. (Ah, remember the early days when I updated daily?) **

**OH! And I nearly forgot to mention that No characters introduced in this chapter Belong to me; including Mizuko Sora.**

*****(-'_'-)*****

"Attention everyone!" A feminine voice rose above the small room, crowded with women. "We're about to start!"

As they organized themselves into the seats, The black haired woman began to speak again.

" Our first order of business is our annual fundraiser." She said, pushing up her black glasses.

"Any ideas?"

"The calender from last year sold very well." Said Rangiku, sitting to the black haired woman's right. "Maybe we should do something like that again, Nanao-san?"

"That's a possibility."

"Maybe a photo book?" Kiyone Suggested. "It could feature the winners from our New Years Popularity Polls."

"And, luck for us, the first place winner is in Soul Society now!" Her sister, Isane, added. She looked over at Kuchiki Rukia, who was sitting a few feet away. "Er, if that's okay with you..."

She tilted her head, letting her black hair flop to the side. " Why wouldn't it be?"

"Umm, err, never mind.." The others looked at the violet eyed girl like she was crazy. How could anyone be that oblivious of their own feelings? Honestly, the only people who didn't see it were probably her, Ichigo and Renji (although most people assumed that Renji was just in denial). Or maybe they were just stubborn. But who could possibly be so devoted to not falling first that they would allow people to practically stalk the other person?

"A-Anyway..." Nanao spoke up, after a long silence that seemed to have been making Rukia rather uncomfortable, trying to steer the meeting back onto a relevant topic. "The official Shinigami will be easy, but Kurasaki-san poses a bit of a challenge. After all, most of us are high ranking officers or vice-captains."

At that moment, as if on cue, a scrawny looking girl with long dark brown hair stumbled through the door.

"Um, hello. Is this the Shinigami Woman's Association?"

"Yes, it is." Rangiku blinked. "And who are you?"

"Um, my name is Mizuko Sora." She bowed awkwardly as she introduced herself. "It's nice to meet you."

"Mizuko-San.."

"I'm sorry for intruding, please let me join the SWA!" She blurted out. The current members stared at her for a moment. They rarely accepted new members, and only after a unanimous vote to invite them. Actually, now that they thought about it, the club was very exclusive.

"Um, I'm sorry, but-" Hinamori started.

"Hold on," Said Matsumoto, cut her off. " You're still a student at the academy, aren't you?"

Sora's looked at the floor, suddenly growing ashamed of the uniform she had previously been so proud of. She was from district 79 North, on of the poorest districts in Rukongai. When she learned that she had reiatsu her mother had begged her to become as shinigami and leave the slums of Kusajishi. So she did. She promised her to do her best, join the SWA so she could have an influence, and never go back there again. When she got her uniform, her mother cried tears of joy as she danced around the small, one room shack they called home. And now it embarrassed her.

" Yes, but-"

"Do you have any classes with Kurosaki Ichigo?"

She looked up. "I have a couple, but-" she stopped when she noticed the wicked smile spread across the Vice captain's face. "Yes, I do."

"I think this might be your lucky day.."

*****(-'_'-)*****

An hour later, Kuchiki Rukia walked the halls of Kuchiki manor alone.

_**Is it really alright?**_ Sode No Shirayuki asked in her suddenly, as the echo of the other SWA members disappeared.

_What?_

She sighed. _**You can't possibly be okay sharing him.**_

_Don't be stupid. _She muttered through her mind. _He's not mine to share._

Her zanpakuto gave an undignified snort._** Rukia, you seem to forget that I am part of your soul. I can see all your thoughts and emotions. Don't try to hide things from me.**_

_I'm not!_

_**Then why did you get so flustered?**_

Rukia sighed.

The entire meeting echoed in her mind.

"_Why don't you have a seat, Mizuko-chan?" Matsumoto said, grinning._

"_Um, alright.." But as she sat down she let out a yelp as her head was pulled backward. She mumbled and apology as she swept her overly long hair out from under her. _

"_Why would you have hair that stupidly long?" Soi Fon, who had only recently cut her own hair, asked._

_Sora flushed, looking down out her hands, placed politely on her lap. "Um, I've never really gotten around to cutting it."_

_Rangiku slapped her on the back, causing her to jump. "Don't be so uptight! Have some tea!" She smiled, taking a seat herself. "You can join the SWA if you really want too!"_

"_R-really?" She leaned forward eagerly._

"_Sure!" Said Yachiru, the president of the club, catching on. "And as an official member, you have to help with the fundraising!" _

"_O-okay! What do I do?"_

"_All you have to do is get some good photo's of Kurosaki Ichigo!"_

_Rukia frowned then. When the photo book was first proposed, she didn't have a problem with it since they weren't very likely to get many pictures of him, but this was different. Ichigo didn't deserve to be stalked every hour of the day. _

_And that girl, who didn't even know him, had no right to be taking pictures of him! It disgusted her to consider the fact of how easy it was for people to peep into the shower areas at the academy, and how eager this girl seemed to please. There was now doubt that she would go to such lengths, hell, that was probably what Matsumoto was telling her to do!_

_She had heard about how appealing people thought he was, all the people who found his scars attractive. He had gotten them fighting to protect his Nakama! To protect her! They had no right to see them!_

_Hinamori shivered. "Did it just get colder in here?"_

"_A little, I guess." Said Yachiru looking around, as if she expected to see snow._

Oops. _She thought fixing the temperature._ _Of course Hinamori, with her fire type zanpakuto, would probably have been the only one to notice, she hadn't meant to release her reiatsu at all. _

"_So, do you think you can do it?" Matsumoto asked the guest._

_She nodded vigorously. "I'll do my best!"_

"_Great!" Yachiru called. "Meeting adjourned!"_

_And everyone began to filter out._

_**Someone with a normal relationship wouldn't consider any part of body as her property. **_Sode No Shirayuki commented.

_I don't!_ Rukia thought loudly. _I just meant that he didn't get himself hurt for the benefit of random women!_

_**Of course. Just you.**_

She turned red, although it was hard to tell if it was from fury or embarrassment. "THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" She screamed out loud, scaring the two servants working down the hall, who rushed quickly away from the insane noble.

_**Oh dear, your talking to yourself is scaring people. **_The spirit said covering her smile with her sleeve.

_...Shut up._

_**Rukia. **_Shesaid, finally taking a serious tone. _**You can lie to other people, and you can lie to yourself. But you can never lie to me.**_

She stopped walking and looked out the window. Outside, there was the garden that byakuya had always been her sister's favorite.

"What do I do, Sode No Shirayuki?"

*****(-'_'-)*****

**TADA! I always love the Zanpakuto chapters!**

**I actually thought up this story last year, which is probably why it took so long to write. Anyway, Please review, the 100th reviewer will get an early chapter! And My Taicho just saved just saved my, so thank her.**


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